Liquid Phase Epitaxial Growth of InP Using In(1-x)Sn(x) Melts.

In many applications of liquid phase epitaxy in the GaInAsP system it is necessary to achieve uniform epitaxial growth on etched wafers, upon which several crystal planes have been exposed by etching of mesa like structures. The difficulty of achieving growth on the In1Sn plane a stop etch plane, has been studied as a function of growth temperature, substrate protection scheme against thermal dissociation, melt supersaturation, single phase versus two phase growth and melt composition using [EQ] "{"111"}" sub In [EN] melts. The composition factor x permits varying the P concentration in the melt by an order of magnitude. A dramatic improvement in wetting of the [EQ] "{"111"}" sub In [EN] surface occurs for x [EQ] >wig [EN] 0. 5 while the benefits of growth with an increased P solubility are nullified by a decreased diffusivity of P as x increases in the melts. The superior growth achieved in Sn rich melts has been incorporated into the formation of buried heterostructure lasers, where growth of a thin wetting layer precedes the normal regrowth from conventional In melts.